Bobby Bones - Stalker? Fan? PR Junkie Trying to Ride Kacey's Coattails?

When DJ Bobby Bones took Gerry House's spot on Clear Channel’s Nashville-based WSIX, a radio station that is syndicated over 50 radio markets across the country, the thought was that Bones would become the new face of country music as far as DJs go. Now, as the DJs contrived public battle with Kacey Musgraves amps up, many are hoping the original thought was wrong.

It all started last November, when Bones interviewed Kacey before the 2013 CMA Awards. The interview was less than 2 minutes long, but a 20-second segment was played over and over again on his show called, "Is Kacey Musgraves Annoyed?" That 20 seconds made her sound like a jerk who wasn't altogether good at much of anything. The tweets from Bones came next. He hounded Kacey on Twitter and then wondered why she wouldn't respond. When she finally commented, she said, "If you’d play our original interview in full and tell people how you unfairly re-edited it I might think about talking to you." Instead of making him stop, the reply just amped up his harassment. His mood swings were extreme as he went from an almost apology - "Im a fan. Ive had 2 miserable experiences with you. we both are known shit heads. we should be friends instead," to the high and mighty DJ with, "dont honor me with 'think about talking to you'. like Im a peasant. you aren’t any better of a human than anyone else."

Musgraves, still being a lady, answered him, saying, "I normally wouldn’t take part in this kinda stuff but since it’s gotten outta hand: The original interview that audio was taken from, unfairly edited, and played on air can be found through the link on this page (see below. Watch it for yourself. For the record: I am a songwriter and a musician. That’s what I’ve been passionate about my entire life and it’s really sad that the focus got taken away from that. Above all- I’m human. Not a robot. Especially at 8 AM. I don’t stroke egos and that doesn’t make me a “shit head.” When you hear the music that means so much to me to make, that’s all that should matter."

Case closed?

Not quite!

The next volley came in the form of a video apology from Bones. He said he was really sorry and that they should be friends. Then he pitched a cancer event he was involved in called Joy, asking her to come perform, saying, "It would mean a lot to me if you came and played Joy week, which is all about choosing joy over fighting Cancer."

Kacey, understandably, didn't jump at the chance to rearrange her schedule at the last minute to appear with him anywhere. Not one to give up, Bones dedicated a day to her on his show last week. Before going into a Letterman-styled list of the top 10 reasons she didn't call that wasn't even remotely funny, he went into a monologue that implied that Clear Channel was fining him $50 every time he mentions her name on air.

So is Bobby Bones a Musgraves stalker? Is he a rabid fan who just happens to be on radio? Or is Bones simply a guy who is trying to grab some of the spotlight for himself by stepping on her rather than working for it? Feuds only work if they have two sides and Kacey Musgraves isn't participating, so this creation isn't really working for him. Hard work and real talent are what get you to the top -- taking shortcuts and trying to ride someone else's coattails don't.

If bullying an artist is the new "way" of country radio, perhaps the old way was much, much better!